More McKinstry History

A comment on the post that shared Tremaine McKinstry's letter to his aunt inspired me to want to confirm where the  McKinstrys lived and to connect the information in that post with things I discovered about the McKinstrys a year ago. This started out as a footnote but grew beyond that. 

In 1918, when Tremaine McKinstry was training to be a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Service, he was 26 years old. He was already married and had an infant daughter. The 1920 census indicates that he, his wife Helen V., and a daughter named June, then 2 years and 10 months old, lived at 83 Glenwood Blvd., an address that no longer appears in the tax rolls.

Tremaine's parents, George and Julia, lived at 83 Green Street, at the bottom of McKinstry Place. The map of this part of Hudson from the 1888 Beers Atlas shows that the street we now know as McKinstry Place more or less follows the southern border of the property that once belonged to Tremaine's grandfather, Augustus McKinstry.

Augustus McKinstry's house was in the northeast corner of the property. A document found on ancestry.com indicates Augustus McKinstry's property comprised seven acres, which were used for agriculture, principally orchards. From 1892, city directories indicate that his son, George McKinstry, Tremaine's father, lived at the opposite corner of the McKinstry land, in this once Queen Anne house at 83 Green Street.

Of interest, too, is where Tremaine's Aunt Nellie, the recipient of the letter, lived, but first, some information about Nellie McKinstry. 

In April 1882, Nellie McKinstry, Augustus and Ellen McKinstry's third child, married F. Carroll Hankes, who was described in the newspaper report of their marriage as "one of our most prominent young business men."

Hankes was in the fire insurance business, but he was also an accomplished illustrator. The item that appeared in the Columbia Republican on March 14, 1883, reports that he had been hired to make sketches for an "illustrated paper called Time."

Driven by health issues (he had suffered a "paralytic stroke" in his late thirties, thought to have "dimmed the brilliant faculties of his mind") or the economic depression then happening in the country (the Panic of 1893, followed by the Panic of 1896), Hankes tragically committed suicide early in 1898, at the age of 41. The following is the beginning of the report that appeared in the Hudson Daily Register on January 8, 1898.

The report of his death provides this synopsis of his professional life: 

After careful preparation, Mr. Hankes entered the fire insurance business and for years prospered. He was an expert penman and at one time he was considered the second best engrossing [sic] artist in the State. He was a fine water-color artist and was highly accomplished in many ways, and inherited a small fortune on the death of his parents.

The report also provides the information that he had "for some time past" been living in Newark, New Jersey, but had recently moved to Chicago. At the time of her husband's death, Nellie McKinstry Hankes and their daughter, Ellen, then 14, were living with Nellie's parents at 886 Columbia Street.

After her mother died in January 1905, Nellie and her daughter moved in with Nellie's younger sister, Susanna, who had married William Gray, the proprietor of R. Gray's Sons furniture store at 547-549 Warren Street, and lived at 95 Green Street in a house that was built around 1896 on part of Augustus McKinstry's extensive property. Susanna is the "aunt Sue" to whom Tremaine, in his letter, asks Nellie to give his love.

William and Susanna Gray's home at 95 Green Street figured in a post from a year ago because it was the site, on May 7, 1917, of a Woman Suffrage Party meeting.
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Now You See It, Now You Don't

This morning, when I drove the 300 block of Allen Street on my way to the cemetery for Joey's morning walk, I noticed that the positioning of the Galvan Foundation sign in front of 335 Allen Street had been altered. No longer was it parallel to the sidewalk. Instead, it was set at an angle, so it would be more visible to drivers approaching from the west. I thought about going back to take a picture but didn't.

This afternoon, I got a tip from a reader that the sign was gone altogether, and, lo and behold, it was.

I don't know what transpired to make this happen, but when I find out, I will definitely share the information.
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Mark Your Calendars

In March, Gossips reported on a plan being proposed by East Light Partners to site a solar array just beyond Hudson's border with Greenport, on what's called Vapor Trail, the road created when the Kaz factory on Route 9, now occupied by Flanders, was built in the late 1990s. The partners--Jamie Fordyce and Wendy De Wolf--characterized the proposed site as "not land in agricultural production," next to a factory and next to a prison. What they didn't say was that the land, although currently not in agricultural use, has been identified as "Farmland of Statewide Significance."

Historic Aerials 1952 courtesy Historic Hudson

What they also failed to note was that the part of the prison adjacent to the site was actually the grounds of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House, a National Historic Landmark.

Image from National Park Service NP Gallery

Months have passed without hearing anything about this project, and it was hoped that efforts to dissuade East Light Partners from pursuing this site had been effective, but recent developments suggest that is not the case. A letter from East Light Partners, dated June 28 and addressed to "Dear Neighbor," describes the site as "the fields between the Flanders Building and the former St. Lawrence Cement plant," asserts that "given the topography and natural vegetation that exists on the property, most of the solar farm would not be visible from the road or other key vistas in the area," and invites the recipient of the letter to an "information session about the project" in the Community Room of the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street, on Tuesday, July 17, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Gossips has also received word that the project will be on the agenda of the Greenport Planning Board on Tuesday, July 24. The Greenport Planning Board meets at 7:30 p.m. at Greenport Town Hall, 600 Town Hall Drive.
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The Fate of the Sister Ship

Gossips has been following the progress of the SS Columbia and the efforts to restore the historic Great Lakes steamship and bring it to the Hudson River. At present, it's still in Buffalo.

The SS Columbia has a sister ship, the SS Ste. Claire. Unfortunately, today, the SS Ste. Claire suffered a devastating fire where it was docked along the Detroit River.

Photo: Alex Haggart|Detroit News

According to official reports, a welder working on renovations to the boat may have sparked the fire. A full report on the disaster can be found in the Detroit News: "Welding possible cause of Boblo boat fire."
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Thanks to Bruce Mitchinson for bringing this to our attention

Henry Johnson's Links to Hudson

Yesterday, in the post about Henry Johnson, it was noted that, around the time Johnson was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French military, his wife was in Hudson, visiting her brother Clarence Jackson, who lived at 430 Diamond Street. I calculated that 430 Diamond Street would have stood where the TSL parking lot now is.

Not long after I published that post, Bruce Mitchinson sent me this newspaper clipping.

Although the clipping isn't dated, the partial text of articles on the back of the clipping suggests that this was about 1964. It isn't possible to make out house numbers from the photograph, but it is likely that the house on the right was 430 Diamond Street, the home of Clarence Jackson, Henry Johnson's brother-in-law.

Despite the fact that, according to the caption, the houses were being demolished to make way for the office and warehouse of Galway Vendors, Inc., a firm "that distributes amusement and vending machines in Columbia and Greene Counties," Mitchinson recalls that nothing was ever built on the site. It remained an empty overgrown lot until it became the parking lot for TSL.
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Buy a Piece of Hudson History

Yesterday, the City of Hudson announced the auction of some decommissioned City property. Among the pickup trucks, a back hoe, a riding lawn mower, several old Ford Crown Victorias that were once police cars, and some used fire fighting equipment are the old Common Council chairs.

It's not clear how old the chairs are, but they probably don't yet qualify as antiques. The picture below, taken in 1961, the year before City Hall was relocated from 327 Warren Street (the original City Hall, now known as Hudson Hall) to 520 Warren Street, suggests that the chairs may date from 1962. Although many elements of the original 1855 Council chamber made the move and were reinstalled at 520 Warren Street, the new space may have necessitated new desks and chairs for the aldermen.

photobygibson.com

But alas, the label on the bottom of the chairs puts the lie to that theory.

  
The chairs were made at L&B, whose factory, according to the label, was located in Hudson, NY. Since the L&B factory in Hudson wasn't built until 1982 (L&B had previously been located in Stottville), the chairs cannot be more than 36 years old. Annoyingly, whoever entered the date of delivery on this tag, which was never removed, didn't do so in a way that could be deciphered.

However old they actually are, you can get ten well-built, matching chairs--chairs that have been part of four decades of Hudson history--at a real bargain. The opening bid for all ten is $10. 

The auction ends on July 19. Click here to learn more. 
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Questions Continue About the Carpenter Gothic

The restoration of 335 Allen Street now appears to be complete. Curtains at some of the windows suggest that part of the house may already be occupied. 

In April, Gossips shared the explanation for why this project never went before the Historic Preservation Commission and expressed the opinion that if it had the carved railing on top of the porch, seen in the pictures below, might have been restored or replicated, returning the house to the way it was meant to look.

Photo: Historic Hudson, Rowles Studio Collection

Photo: Byrne Fone, c. 2003

Yesterday, a different addition to the property appeared that raised more questions.

Does this sign, which seems enormous, exceed the size limitations for a sign in a residential R-3 district? Why didn't the sign go before the Historic Preservation Commission for a certificate of appropriateness? It is, after all, in a historic district.

Gossips has posed both these questions to the code enforcement officer and is awaiting a response. Let's hope the answer to one or both of the questions involves the information that the sign is only temporary.
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Hudson and History

Today, most of us know the story of Henry Johnson and his extraordinary acts of bravery on May 15, 1918, when he and a fellow soldier, Needham Roberts, repelled an enemy raiding party in the Argonne Forest. Johnson was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but he moved to Albany his early teens and was working as a redcap porter at Albany Union Station when he enlisted in the military in June 1917. Johnson was the first U.S. soldier to receive France's highest military honor, the Croix de Guerre, but aside from the a parade down Fifth Avenue with his regiment, the New York National Guard 15th Infantry Regiment, known as the the "Harlem Hellfighters," in February 1919, Johnson received no official acknowledgment of his bravery from the United States government during his lifetime. He died in obscurity of myocarditis on July 1, 1929.

Recognition of Johnson's bravery came posthumously. In 1992, a monument was erected in his honor in Washington Park in Albany. In 1996, he was awarded the Purple Heart. In 2003, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award for valor. On May 14, 2015, Johnson was awarded the our country's highest military award, the Medal of Honor. In presenting the award, President Barack Obama said of Johnson:

Henry was one of the first Americans to receive France’s highest award for valor, but his own nation didn’t award him anything--not even the Purple Heart, though he had been wounded 21 times. Nothing for his bravery, though he had saved a fellow soldier at great risk to himself. His injuries left him crippled. He couldn’t find work. His marriage fell apart. And in his early 30s, he passed away.

Last year, Henry Johnson was the subject of a WMHT special: Henry Johnson: A Tale of Courage. Earlier this year, he was featured in the first episode of the podcast, A New York Minute in History: Spirits of Sacrifice.

This synopsis of the story of Henry Johnson is by way of introduction to two items I discovered yesterday on the front page of the Columbia Republican for July 9, 1918. The first reports that Henry Johnson, along with Needham Roberts (called in the report Herbert Robinson), had been "cited for bravery" by the "French command." It also provides the information that Johnson "is well known in Hudson, where his sister resides and where he frequently visited. His wife spent last week here." 

This item appeared above the fold. In a different column, below the fold, there was a related item, reporting that Henry Johnson's wife had been in Hudson on Friday, July 5. She had been interviewed by a reporter from the Republican. In this article, it is revealed that she too had a sibling living in Hudson: Clarence Jackson.
  

The Hudson city directory for 1918 lists Clarence Jackson living at 430 Diamond Street. Today, of course Diamond Street is called Columbia Street, and 430 Columbia Street is the location of the parking lot for Time and Space Limited.
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In the Good Old Summertime

The Youth Department announced yesterday that lifeguards will be on duty from noon to 6 p.m. seven days a week. 

Oakdale 1951--PhotobyGibson

Swimming is prohibited in the lake when there are no lifeguards present.
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Enjoy Your Fourth of July!

A Letter Home a Hundred Years Ago

Exploring the local newspapers from a hundred years ago, I came upon this letter in the Columbia Republican for June 25, 1918, written by a young man from Hudson, who was training to be a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Service. The recipient was his aunt. The letter is interesting for many reasons, and so we share it here.

 

 

 

 

   
Tremaine McKinstry, whose full name was Augustus Tremaine McKinstry, was 26 in 1918. He was the son of George McKinstry, the second child and only son of Augustus and Ellen McKinstry, who lived in this house, which once stood at 886 Columbia Street. (It was demolished around 1910, and the Dinehart mansion was constructed in its place.)

George McKinstry, at the age of 4, appears in this picture with his older sister, Jennie.

George McKinstry was an artist, who had an art studio here in Hudson from around 1884 to 1889. Bert Geer Phillips, who with Ernest Blumenschein founded the Taos Society of Artists, studied with him. George McKinstry gave up his career as an artist and became a druggist when his father's partner in the Rossman & McKinstry drugstore died. Tremaine McKinstry followed in the family business and was also a druggist.

Tremaine's Aunt Nellie, the recipient of the letter, was three years younger than his father, and Aunt Sue, referenced at the end of the letter, was the youngest of Augustus and Ellen's four children.
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A Reason to Venture North

Gossips recommendations rarely encourage people to travel very far beyond Hudson for any reason, but there are exceptions, and this is one. On Saturday, July 14, an intriguing event is taking place in East Chatham at the Red Rock Historical Society. It's a conversation between a historian and a playwright, called "The Way They Lived," about Ulysses S. Grant and Mark Twain and a little known story of the two men and their friendship. The following is quoted from the press release:

Bankruptcy used to be taken seriously. Now, it's so frequent that there are grades of insolvency--Chapter 9, Chapter 11, and both businesses and individuals continue their day-to-day lives with little interruption. Not so in the 1880s when former President Ulysses S. Grant lost all his money in a Wall Street swindle. Even the title to his New York City home was sold--leaving his family destitute. The former Civil War general didn't wish to revisit his battle exploits, but, with no source of income, an offer to publish his memoirs promised funds where none had been available.

Enter Mark Twain. The author and lecturer idolized Grant for his courage and his brilliance as commander of the Union Army. So he offered to underwrite the former President through his newly formed publishing company. He promised to make the memoir a best seller and invested two years of his life to make that happen. Neither Grant nor Twain knew whether he could write a good book, but Twain took the gamble. He sacrificed his own work, risked his own reputation, and took on enormous debt--all to save his friend.

The details of this story--portrayed in Grant & Twain, a new play written by Elizabeth Diggs--are the jumping off point for a conversation between Diggs and historian and author Hugh Howard.

The conversation begins at 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 14. Red Rock Historical Society is located at 407 County Route 24 in East Chatham. A $10 donation is suggested.

Grant & Twain received an Edgerton Foundation grant for new American plays. It will be performed at PS21 Chatham, September 27 through September 30.
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Following Up

On June 12, Gossips reported that the Galvan Foundation was seeking property tax exemptions for six of its many properties. At that time, the city assessor said the requests were being evaluated by the Board of Assessment Review--Rachel Kappel. Philip Osattin, and Phil Forman. Now that the final tax rolls for 2018 are available online, we can report on the status of the six properties.

201-203 Warren Street

It is not entirely clear from the tax rolls what is happening with this property. In the "Taxable" section of the rolls (see page 113), the building is listed with a market value of $305,195 and a taxable value of $235,000. It is also listed in the "Wholly Exempt" section of the tax rolls (see page 414), with a full market value of $597,403 and a taxable value of $o. 

67-71 North Fifth Street

In 2017, these three houses had a full market value of $347,059 and a taxable value of $295,000. For 2018, the full market value rose to $383,117, and the houses are wholly tax exempt (see page 415).

202-204 Warren Street

In 2017, the full market value was assessed at $735,294 and taxable value at $625,000. In 2018, the full market value rose to $811,688, and the taxable value was reduced to $243,750 (see page 114).

364-366 Warrren Street

In 2017, the full market value of these two buildings was assessed at $1,647,059, and the taxable value was set at $1,400,000. In 2018, the full market value rose to $1,818,182, and the taxable value was reduced to $868,000 (see page 114).

325 and 327 State Street 

In 2017, these two buildings, with an assessed full market value of $211,765 each, were wholly exempt from property taxes. In 2018, the buildings, now assessed at $233,766 each, remain wholly exempt from property taxes (see page 414).

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Stewart's There and Here

In April, Gossips reported the story of the plan by Stewart's Shops to build a convenience store and gas station in Voorheesville. To summarize, in the spring of 2016, Stewart's purchased Smith's Tavern, an iconic pizzeria in the heart of the village. The plan was to demolish the building and construct a convenience store and gas station in its stead.

On June 13, 2017, the Village Planning Commission, worried about pedestrian safety as well as flooding and erosion (the site backs up on Vly Creek), requested an in-depth environmental review of the project. Stewart's threatened to sue. Chuck Marshall, real estate representative for Stewart's, complained to the Altamont Enterprise that, "of the over 300 shops operated by Stewart's . . . no other municipality had required an in-depth environmental review."

Two weeks later, on June 27, 2017, the Village Board adopted a moratorium on development to allow work on Voorheesville's first comprehensive land-use plan to be completed. The six-month moratorium could be extended by additional six-month periods, and in November 2017, it was. In May 2018, a draft of Voorheesville's new comprehensive plan was made available. The new plan, not yet adopted, rezones the area in which Smith's Tavern is located as the "Creekside Commercial District." The Altamont Enterprise explained the impact of the proposed new zoning:

That new district, under the proposed plan, would not allow for a Stewart's Shop let alone one with a gas station attached.

That's because as a "use," Stewart's Shop "does not promote the desired character for this district." Specifically, it is a "Formula Business," which according to the plan is "required by contractual or other arrangements to be virtually identical to businesses in other communities because of standardized architecture, services, merchandise, decor, uniforms and the like."

As a consequence of the proposed new zoning, the Altamont Enterprise reported on June 14: "Stewart's Shops to sell former Smitty's." Marshall is quoted in the article as saying the property could be on the market "as soon as next week."

Compare the Stewart's story here in Hudson, which has some common elements: Stewart's desire to develop; a need for a new comprehensive plan (our current one was adopted in 2002); concern about formula businesses. The differences are: Stewart's is already here, has been here for forty-some years, and has been a nonconforming use for all that time; Hudson already has legislation in place banning formula businesses; the outcome of the story in Hudson is likely to be very different.

At its June 27 meeting, the Common Council Legal Committee, made up of John Rosenthal (Fourth Ward), who chairs the committee, Rich Volo (Fourth Ward), and Shershah Mizan (Third Ward), agreed to move forward to the full Council a new amendment to the zoning code in response to Stewart's, and now also Scali's (both nonconforming uses in a residential district), desire for a zoning change. The new amendment, which applies only to R-2 and R-2H districts, would allow "any building or portion thereof, the use of which is currently a non-conforming use within the zoning district," to be "renovated, replaced, and/or expanded," with these provisions:

(a) the non conforming use has been established and has operated continuously for a period of greater than twenty years in the R-2H zone;

(b) the owner demonstrates mitigation of impacts of the renovated building to the surrounding neighborhood to the satisfaction of the Planning Board. . . . Any mitigation required shall be set forth in resolution by the Planning Board and/or through a host community benefit of agreement between the owner and the City Council [sic] for the purposes of long term enforcement;

(c) the construction of the renovated building is completed upon the parcel or adjacent parcel(s) upon which the non-conforming building currently exists;

(d) the renovated building shall not be more than 1x greater than the existing structure of the non-conforming use;

(e) the construction of the renovated building shall create no new additional non-compliance with the Bulk and Area Regulations for the zoning district.

This amendment seems worded to give Stewart's exactly what they want. They can build a new building twice the size of the current one and demolish two houses in the process, and the bugbear of spot zoning is avoided because the proposed changes will not benefit a single property owner. The owners of Scali's get to expand their building, too. 

What's sweetening the deal is the "host community benefit agreement." The last time a corporation offered Hudson a host community benefit agreement it was St. Lawrence Cement, so many of us are conditioned to believe that nothing good comes with the offer of such an agreement. What was revealed at the Legal Committee meeting last Thursday is that the nature of the benefit being discussed is money to help finance a new comprehensive plan and comprehensive zoning revisions. These are two things that the City definitely needs. Our current comprehensive plan was done in 2002, and people are forever complaining about our antiquated zoning code, which was adopted fifty years ago and seems often to apply suburban planning principles to our very urban built environment. But unlike Voorheesville, where they put a moratorium on development until they completed their comprehensive plan, what's purposed in Hudson is amending the zoning to enable two fairly neighborhood altering projects and then, after the horse has left the barn, revising the comprehensive plan.

At the meeting, Gossips asked Rosenthal what if a revised comprehensive plan came to the conclusion that a super-sized Stewart's and a larger Scali's with a larger parking lot, with the loss of residential buildings such expansions would necessitate, wasn't in keeping with what the city envisions for its future. He said he didn't think that would happen, but he was willing to take the chance.
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Of Interest

In the past quarter century, Hudson has had a few instances of people holding public office in Hudson while living someplace else. Most recently, there was the Fifth Ward alderman who moved to Taghkanic before his term was up but nonetheless continued to serve on the Common Council. 

This morning a reader brought to my attention an exposé in the New York Post about an elected official not actually residing where required by law to reside: "Brooklyn state Supreme Court justice using rentals to claim residency." The article alleges that Justice ShawnDya Simpson "has been using a series of rental apartments [in Brooklyn] for more than a decade to claim she's a borough resident" while actually living in South Orange, New Jersey, in a house she and her husband purchased in 1998. What's the Hudson connection? Simpson is married to Jacob Walthour, Jr., son of Jake and Barbara Walthour, longtime proprietors of the Savoia.
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The Great War: July 2, 1918

Exploring the Columbia Republican for July 2, 1918, I was expecting to find an account of great plans for the celebration of Independence Day during a time when the country was at war. Instead I found this affecting story of one young Hudson man's experience while training in the cavalry.

Some research discovered that Paul Burns was born in East Greenbush, the seventh child of William and Mary Burns. His father was an Irish immigrant, whose occupation was listed in the 1900 census as "Trackman on RR." At the time he enlisted in the cavalry, Paul Burns was living here in Hudson with his oldest sibling, his sister Mary, who was thirteen years older than he and married to a man named John F. Dryer.

Although the account in the Columbia Republican reports that Paul Burns's arm was so badly injured it would have to be amputated, his military records suggest otherwise. According to his military card, found on Ancestry.com, he was honorably discharged on March 17, 1919, having served with the 12th Cavalry from the time of his enlistment. He had not served overseas, and he was "0 per cent disabled on date of discharge."  

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Mrs. Greenthumbs Day Approaches

Mark your calendars! Mrs. Greenthumbs Day is only weeks away. 

The biennial event honoring the memory of Hudson's most talented, most exuberant, and most famous gardener, Cassanda Danz, who had a local radio show, appeared on national television, and wrote books as Mrs. Greenthumbs, happens this year on Sunday, July 22.

As in the past, Mrs. Greenthumbs Day will be celebrated with an open garden day in Hudson. This year, twenty gardens will be welcoming visitors from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gardens are located throughout the city, but all within walking distance of each other. (Hudson is, after all, only two square miles.) Mrs. Greenthumbs Day provides a rare opportunity to view gardens in Hudson that are hidden behind buildings and fences and to get inside gardens that can usually only be longingly glimpsed from the sidewalk.

The garden tour is free and open to all, but there will be an opportunity at each garden to show your appreciation and help with the preservation and beautification of Hudson's public spaces by making a contribution. In the past, garden tour contributions have gone to the Mrs. Greenthumbs "Hedge Fund," but in the past year, the "Hedge Fund" has morphed into the Hudson Parks Conservancy, which will be the beneficiary of this year's contributions.

That same evening, when the garden tour is over, there will a party to launch the Hudson Parks Conservancy at The Secret Gardener, 250 Warren Street. All are invited to celebrate the beginning of the organization whose mission is the restoration and enhancement of Hudson's parks and to learn what's being planned and how you can be a part of it. The party is from 5 to 7 p.m. Click here for more information and to RSVP.
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Of Interest

The topic of Ralph Gardner Jr.'s commentary on WAMC yesterday was Kinderhook historian Ruth Piwonka: "Go Ask Ruth." 

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